October 20, 2008 Minutes

From Austin Toastmasters (Balcones, Club #3407)

Karen Bondy, our Toastmaster, took us down memory lane by sharing our "trips to remember."

• Sonny Sonntag led us in thoughtful Prayer and Pledge.
• Jonathan Huizingh picked "abstract" as the Grammarian's word of the day. It was used by Sonny, Jim, Jon and Dan. He counted one Um from Jim and several from Megan.
• Veera Nallam filled the Timer duties well with a great explanation of times and follow up report.
• One Minute Toastmaster Mary Buker encouraged us to use an acronym to remember the parts of our speech.

Charlie Cole continued with vacation theme questions for his table topic victims.

• Jerry Barrett's favorite vacation was in the Swiss Alps in a beautiful valley with two lakes nestled in mountains surrounded by waterfalls.
• Guoen Wang – Most Improved - His favorite means of transportation is the bicycle. He got his first at 13 and it gave him timesavings and speed.
• Glenn Nielsen – Best Table Topic – recollected his horror at his vacation in the Bahamas having been solicited to purchase drugs and a $75 1 minute parasailing by vendors who get angry when you buy.
• Steve Gonzales would like to go to Spain and the Canary Islands to find his family roots and good food.

Megan Morris – Zombie Marketing – Megan's icebreaker was about creating the marketing for her friend Marty Whitmore's art. You want to build a tribe around your business, in this case an undead horde. They want to be able to recognize each other. They had an interesting scheme to create interest in a new project. They got donors for a future piece of art and the donors made suggestions for the piece that Marty had to weave into the final product.

Dan Naden – Best Speaker - The Birth of Amazon.com – Dan told the history of Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com. Jeff had the idea while at another company. They wouldn't go for it so he quit and drove from NY to Seattle with his wife to start a new company. As they drove he planned to set up a website selling CDs, books, hardware, software and games. By the time they were half way there, he had decided on just books. Investors convinced him that kadabra.com sounded too much like cadaver.com so they chose amazon.com (wide, vast, teaming with life). Would any one buy? Yes! Now $4 billion/quarter.

Kyeli Smith – Losing Weight the Hard Way - Kyeli told us the 4 pillars to weight loss.

• Exercise – it's the only way to burn calories you already have
• Equipment – get your own equipment to avoid the gym and keep it handy. A heart monitor will keep you at your optimal exercise pace.
• Eating – eat a good healthy breakfast and several small meals throughout the day. It will keep your energy level up.
• Secret Ingredient – Self work, self love, self knowledge – know your weakness, encourage yourself and celebrate your tracked progress.

Priscilla Oehlert generally evaluated the meeting. The theme created laughter and memories. She appreciated Karen's segue comment after each role.

• Anne Child was Table Topics Evaluator. Charlie did a good job picking questions people enjoyed answering. All developed their responses well. Jerry used good gestures for the mountains and waterfalls. Guoen had a nice conclusion stating the benefits of his bicycle. Glenn used humor and vivid descriptions to have us all reconsidering if we really wanted to vacation in the Bahamas. Steve express his passion about finding family and food in Spain.
• Jon Beall evaluated Megan. She had excellent humor and use of voice (volume and pacing). She had a few Ums. He loved her hand on heart gesture and that she concluded well and brought it all back down to earth. Jon would like to learn more about Megan, herself.
• Jim Comer - Best Evaluator - evaluated Dan. Dan brought us the drama of a business story. He had excellent vocal variety, use of hands and body and well dressed. He liked the specifics Dan wove into the story. Dan quickly corrected his misuse of "donor" when he meant "investor". Dan did pace a bit at the beginning of a speech. Movement should have purpose.
• Pace Smith evaluated Kyeli - The purpose of the speech was organization and indeed Kyeli organized her speech around 4 points. She had a good opening and an excellent conclusion giving testimony of her loss of 30 pounds! She had good gestures, vocal variety and humor. Adding a bigger build up would have given the Secret Ingredient section more punch.

• Harry Savio had considered not coming but got great ideas from the meeting.
• Cathy Lovelady enjoyed the speeches.
• Marty Whitmore, first time visitor, got an insight into our organization.
• Crickett Chapel, first time visitor, got to hear 3 friends speak and had lots of fun.
• Antoinette and Kyeli compete at the Division contest Wed 10/29 and then hopefully at the District conference 11/15.
• We have one more week of trial individual meal bills. Please have payment ready for Brenda.